Posted: Oct 23, 2017 8:53 pm
Thommo wrote:GrahamH wrote:Thommo wrote:That is a fascinating use of the word critical. I can't help but wonder exactly what the negative consequences that are of utmost importance of not leaving Spain immediately would be.
Maybe a synonym would help:
Critical
7.
of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/critical
Ok, yes, that's a meaning of critical.
So the question then is whether holding the referendum immediately and outside the constitution has decided the independence question with certainty that would not exist had they acted otherwise.
And it seems the answer is no, hence my comment.
With no clear route to a legal referendum (although they dispute that it was illegal), what holding the referendum has achieved is brought the issue out to a wider, EU, global audience. Hence we are discussing it, and the legal and perhaps moral entitlement to a referendum or other potential route to independence.
It clearly hasn't decided the independence question, but it would have been a question ignored by Madrid and the wider world if it hadn't happened.